Being A Business Mom | You Have To Be Your Best To Give Your Best

Being a mom and a wife are the best and most important titles in the world! When you add running a business to our responsibilities at home, the challenge can sometimes feel near impossible. BUT IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE! There is a way to balance it all and it starts with you! Read the rest...

Can We Talk “HONESTLY” About Being A Business Mom And Trying To Balance It All?(Sorry Dads – but honestly this can apply to you too. )

Many business owners I meet are parents, and too often I see them put their families on hold to make their business their priority in life. If you’re doing this, please stop! Your life doesn’t have to revolve around your business. In fact, it never should. Let me explain…

To me, being a Mom and a Wife are the best and most important titles in the world, being a business owner would fall closely behind. When you add the dream of building a business on top of the responsibilities we have at home, the challenge can feel near impossible.

Since you’re reading this, then I know you’re here for a reason. You were born to make a difference in this world. You were designed by God to be stronger and try harder than everyone else around you. You will always rise where others fall and you laugh in the face of impossible just to prove to the world that IT IS POSSIBLE!

That Is What Makes You An Amazing Entrepreneur

But, that is also what will try and take control of your life… if you allow it.

Trust me, I found out the hard way…
I got caught up in it. I let my business take control of my life. I was constantly pouring my heart and soul into building it, I didn’t have time for anything else. My business completely consumed me!

Business Was Great!

Looking from the outside in, everything was awesome!
My business was taking off like a wildfire. We were outgrowing office space faster than expected. My team was multiplying and we had clients lining up to work with us! The office phone was ringing non-stop, emails were pouring in and my client slots were constantly booked!

BUT… at the end of the day, it’s wasn’t at all like I had dreamed.
I was exhausted. I was constantly busy. I wasn’t sleeping. I was overwhelmed, overweight, unhappy, unfulfilled and was constantly questioning myself on if it was even worth it.

I remember telling my husband that I couldn’t do it anymore, that I was done! That I would rather give it all up then continue on the way that I was.

I Was Burning Out And I Was Burning Out Fast!

I had to take some time off and take a few steps away from my business so I could give myself an honest reality check.

That’s when I realized that the expectations I was placing on myself, were so completely unfair and ridiculous. That the people and things that mattered most to me were getting put on hold and that the business I had built, had quickly become the business that I didn’t want.

I knew I had to do something or else the dream business I had worked so hard for would end up ruining my entire life!

Somewhere Along The Way, I Lost Track Of What Was Important To Me, I Let Others Tell Me What Success Was

I remember laughing hysterically (probably so I wouldn’t cry) when I finally figured this out.

I started my business because I wanted to help business owners all over the world, while I worked from anywhere in my yoga pants! That’s honestly as simple as my concept was. And here I was in a big office, with a big team, dressing up to go to work everyday. As I looked around, it looked more and more like the corporate America that I walked away from.

After diving deep into my business and taking a look a what “I really wanted” the business to become moving forward I was able make a plan and restructure it. I started putting systems in place that allowed me to start stepping away from the day-to-day objectives so I could started spending more time on what made my heart happy.

This is when I realized how much more passion I had inside me and I started looking at my business from a completely new perspective.

Society Will Try To Tell You What Success Is

Studies show that the majority of society thinks success is based on material things. I’m here to say that is crap!

It doesn’t matter how big your business is, what kind of car you drive or how much money you have in the bank.

Throughout my years of building and running businesses, my biggest lesson is that at the end of the day if you don’t feel successful, then you’re not!

Success is the feeling of happiness, freedom and fulfillment that we have at the end of each day knowing we lived that day doing exactly what we were meant to do.

I’ve met many “wealthy” people over the years, who society would consider successful. Sure looking into their life from the outside, at the material things – it may seem that way, but at the end of the day – they feel empty inside. They don’t feel fulfilled. They can look at the material things and actually feel an emptiness inside… it’s not success.

Don’t Let Anyone Else Define What Success Is To You

Don’t let society fool you too. In case you forgot, the majority of society is broke and in debt and know nothing about running a successful business.

You must define what success is to you, what will give you happiness, freedom and fulfillment and start writing your own success story today!

I’m grateful that I figured this out early enough to fix it.
Before I continued to allow my business to consume me.
I’m sharing this with you – because I want to help you fix it too.

If your business can’t run without you, there is a problem.
If your life is spiraling out of control, there is a problem.
If your family and friends are missing you, there is a problem.
If you feel like you want to give up on everything you worked hard for, there is a problem.

And that problem is…. you’re not spending time doing what your heart loves to do!

I Know Your Dream!

I know you want it bad and I know you’re willing to work really hard for it!But I don’t want to see you accomplish that dream and loose everything you love on the way to achieving it!

Today, I urge you to take a step back and give your business a reality check. Take responsibility for where you’re at. Put the blame on yourself and only you and then FORGIVE YOURSELF FOR ALL OF IT!

Give yourself as much grace as you need. Then ask yourself, what will make your heart happy at the end of the day.
Take what you’ve learned, make changes, adjust and upgrade your life and business from here.

Make Time For Things That Bring You Joy And Happiness, As Much As You Can!

Don’t allow your business to get in the way of the things that are important to you anymore.

You’ll become happy again! You’ll become healthy again!
Your life will start to balance out again with the perfect amount of time for yourself, your relationships and your business!

You’ll feel fulfilled and you’ll start to love your business again!
And your business will love you back, because you won’t be so emotionally and physically drained all the time.

Your business will uplevel because you will uplevel!

Take some time out today, really think about this post.
Think about how you can make little adjustments in your life to start filling your heart with joy!

If you need some ideas to kickstart your upgrade, let me share some of my non-business activities with you:

Spend 30-60 Minutes Every Morning On Myself
It’s usually a combination of praying, meditating, journaling, learning and/or working out.

Let The Most Important People In My Life Know That They Are Loved
Every weekday morning, I pack lunches so I can place little love notes inside telling them exactly what I love and appreciate about them.

Make Spending Time As A Family A Priority
I cook dinner 5-7 times per week because (I love to cook and) I enjoy having conversations with my family around the dinner table every night.

Cherish The Moments I’ll Never Get Back
I attend every school/sport event that my daughter has because I want her to know that what is important to her, is important to me and that her hard work is seen, appreciated and celebrated.

Make My Marriage My Priority
My husband and I have busy schedules but we don’t allow that to effect our marriage. We make it a point to have time alone on a daily basis and enjoy a date night at least once per week because we want to always keep our marriage fresh, fun and our #1 priority.

Reset My #1 Goal Daily – Make A Difference In The World
My #1 focus each day is to make a difference in someone else’s life.

Say No More Than I Say Yes
If something/someone doesn’t add value to my day, I don’t let it waste my time and energy.This was a hard one to implement for me at first, I still struggle but I’ve gotten so much better!

Check In With Myself At The End Of Everyday
I want to get better every day! The only way I can do that is before I go to bed each night, look at the day that just passed by and ask myself “what did I do great today and what can I do better tomorrow?”

Do What Fuels My Heart Regularly
We travel a lot because I love the adventure of going to new places (mostly beaches 😉 )!

These are just some of my highest priorities. The things I will not allow my business to consume or interfere with.

These are the things that fill my heart with SO much joy and give me true feelings of happiness, freedom and fulfillment at the end of each day. I can go to bed knowing that I lived and loved, doing exactly what I was meant to do. These are the things that drive me to want to be more and do better for myself, my family, my clients and my business. This is my fuel to make the world a better place!

I love my family, my clients and my business! But I can not serve others and give 100% until I serve my heart first. And neither can you!

How will you kickstart your upgrade?Take a minute to write down what is important to you. Define what success means to you. Create a list of things that you could do every day that will make your life feel more fulfilled.

If this post helped you or you have a question, I’d love to hear it! Leave a comment:

With over a decade of experience in business & marketing and an impressive track record for creating million dollar businesses for her clients, Ashley Dixon has developed a proven success formula that thousands of business owners and corporate executives use today.

Her programs teach simplified marketing strategies and systems that are easy for anyone to implement quickly, enabling her students to start bringing in consistent traffic, leads & sales right away! Interested in learning more? Ashley offers online marketing courses as well as in-person business building masterminds, weekend workshops and seminars hosted all around the world and she would love for you to join her!